Hurricane Irma

[Apex]

Expected to impact South Florida on Sunday before sunrise. It will affect the entire state and possibly up the east coast. This storm is large and very powerful, a Cat 5 right now, with winds to 185 mph. The difference between Irma and Harvey is that Irma is moving quickly and will not stall anywhere.

Hurricane Andrew, back in August 1992, was small, very fast moving, and very powerful also, but the entire ordeal was over in 3 hours. The destruction Andrew left behind in Miami was unprecedented here, it seemed to come out of nowhere, many were not prepared. Now we are faced with another super storm. We've seen this one coming a long way off, and have had plenty of time to prepare, and now we wait. The forecasting is very accurate. There is a chance the eye could pass a bit offshore, either east or west, but the storm still would have impact.everywhere. We will not know until late Fri or early Sat exactly where it will go. The waiting game is very tense.

Some mandatory evacs have been ordered: Miami Beach, the Keys, and some areas very close to the coast.

Houses in South Florida are for the most, CBS, concrete block stucco. Miami Dade, Monroe (south), Broward (north). But as you get into the Ft Pierce area, about 120 miles north on the east coast, you find a lot of frame/stucco construction. Those areas have never been directly affected by any major hurricane as far as I know, non-CBS houses could be at risk in this storm.

I am CBS, and got impact windows 3 years ago. Those windows will now pay off. That doesn't eliminate the possibility of something unforeseen to happen, esp in a storm like this, but sure will help. Nothing can penetrate the windows, they're even bullet proof. I gassed up this past Sunday, now, good luck, lines are long, and some stations out.

Power will be cut just before impact. Then the waiting game begins, ya just want it to be over with. This one will not pass in just three hours. When it's over, no power for an unknown period of time (I was 6 days out after Andrew), and I'll probably have yard clean up, but I don't think as much as past storms.

Been there, done that doesn't mean a thing. Each storm has its own personality and all are nasty. The only good thing about a hurricane is that we can see them coming in from a long way off.

We hope everyone will do OK.

[Fozzer]

Ta for the heads-up, Apex!....

...watching it closely hour by hour...>>> https://forums.simviation.com/phpBB3/vi ... 0&t=177700

I often envy your warmth in Florida.....

.....forgetting that you have all sorts of other problems with the weather!

Paul.

P.S. Thanks again, Apex, for the Weather Map, I now have it in my; "Weather Folder"...>>> https://earth.nullschool.net/

...another big one in the Gulf of Mexico!

[yancovitch]

wonder if there is a way to make a hurricane proof house.....maybe a pyramid on stilts, for flooding....i'm sure someone's thought of something....but i guess the house is only half the problem...if that......

[Apex]

In the Florida Keys, most houses are built as second story houses with pillars or large columns only on the ground floor, space for cars etc. All are CBS there and here. But even the Keys people are under mandatory evacuation, so despite that design, sometimes it's just not safe to hang around. I wouldn't.

My immediate area is not in a flood or surge zone, so I researched just now, despite the coast line being 5.3 miles heading 90 degrees east from me. The University of Miami is 1.89 miles from the coast line, and there's now talk of storm surge along the coast in this county and northward. Rainfall is projected at only 15", that's not too bad.